FINISH STRONG with TFS’s collection of famous quotes!
From Jesse Owens to Dr. George Sheehan … from Steve Prefontaine to Sir Roger Banister … from ancient philosophers to runners just like you …
The Final Sprint has accumulated the most comprehensive anthology of motivational quotes to help you FINISH STRONG!
Pick out your favorites and read them before a big race or even choose one as your training credo!
Have one you want us to add?
No problem! Just send an email to thefinalsprint@gmail.com!
Start Here . . . Finish Strong!
Good things come slow - especially in distance running.
- Bill Dellinger, Oregon coach
Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp or are you going to be strong today?'
- Peter Maher, Irish-Canadian Olympian and sub-2:12 marathoner
If a man coaches himself, then he has only himself to blame when he is beaten.
- Sir Roger Bannister
God determines how fast you're going to run; I can help only with the mechanics.
- Bill Bowerman
We are different, in essence, from other men. If you want to win something, run 100 meters. If you want to experience something, run a marathon.
- Emil Zatopek, winner of four Olympic Gold Medals
The real purpose of running isn't to win a race; it's to test the limits of the human heart
- Bill Bowerman in "Without Limits"
A winner is someone who sets their goals, commits themselves to those goals and then pursues their goals with all the ability that is given to them. That requires someone who believes in themselves, who will make self sacrifices, work hard, and maintain the determination to perform at the best of their ability.
- C. Leeman Bennett
Running, one might say, is basically an absurd pastime upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning in the type of running you need to do ... chances are you'll be able to find meaning in that other absurd pastime - LIFE.
- Bill Bowerman in "Without Limits"
When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then he certainly has developed in more ways than physical. Is it raining? That doesn't matter. Am I tired? That doesn't matter, either. At this point, willpower will be no problem.
- Emil Zatopek, winner of four Olympic Gold Medals
There is no glory in practice, but without practice there is no glory
- Unknown
The five S's of sports training are stamina, speed, strength, skill and spirit, but the greatest of these is spirit.
- Ken Doherty, famous running coach and trainer
Someone may beat me, but they will have to bleed to do it.
- Steve Prefontaine
The pain wont last but the memories will.
- John Maclean, Ironman hall of famer
Never mind what others do; do better than yourself, beat your own record from day to day, and you are a success.
- Wiliam J.H. Boetcker
Most people run a race to see who is fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts.
- Steve Prefontaine
Only one person and one person only will determine how good of a runner you become ... You will become as good as you let yourself be. That one person is you
- a Coach
When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting.
- Doris Brown Heritage
Dedication and commitment are what transfer dreams into realities.
- Unknown
A coach is someone who always makes you do what you don't want to do, so you can be who you've always wanted to be.
- Unknown
There is no glory in practice, but without practice there is no glory.
- Unknown
Champions are made when no one is watching.
- Unknown
Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.
- Paulo Coelho
The long run puts the tiger in the cat.
- Bill Squires, coach
For me, running is a lifestyle and an art. I’m far more interested in the magic of it than the mechanics.
- Lorraine Moller, Olympic Marathoner
Running makes you an athlete in all areas of life…trained in the basics, prepared for whatever comes, ready to fill each hour and deal with the decisive moment
- Dr. George Sheehan
If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.
- Priscialla Welch, Olympian & NYC Marathon winner
If the miles behind me could be put into words before you ... you would feel my efforts, my struggles, my desires, most of all you would see my joy ... Watch me from afar run the trails and hills and miles upon miles and you will see...
- a runner
While running, it is rude to count the people you pass out loud.
- adidas
I never walk up to the starting line with thoughts of coming in second
- Unknown
The pride you gain is worth the pain
- Dennis Ogilvie
Being the first to cross the finish line makes you a winner in only one phase of life.
It's what you do after you cross the line that really counts.
- Ralph Boston
Running is like life, it's a long journey, but well worth it.
- Unknown
A run begins the moment you forget you are running.
- Adidas
Running is a road to self-awareness and reliance … you can push yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations or coast quietly down a solitary path watching the earth spin beneath your feet. But when you are through, exhilarated and exhausted, at least for a moment everything seems right with the world
- The Essence of Running
Around mile 20 I was feeling so good, I wanted to kiss everyone.
- Josh Ritter, singer/songwriter
Our heritage is to do big things and be done quickly. But starting slowly and adding a mile every two weeks is a great way to feel like you’re accomplishing something
- Josh Ritter, singer/songwriter
Dedication and commitment are what transfer dreams into realities
- Unknown
A running machine, that glides over mud, crud and goop.
- Ed Eyestone's definition of Kenyan ace John Ngugi
When You Pray, Move Your Feet
- African Proverb
In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.
- Henry Miller, American author
Don't take anyone else's definition of success as your own.
- Jacqueline Briskin, author
If you want to win a race you have to go a little beserk.
- Bill Rodgers, four time Boston and New York City Marathon Champion
Running is like celebrating your soul. There's so much it can teach us in life.
- Molly Barker, founder and executive director of Girls on the Run International
Runners just do it - they run for the finish line even if someone else has reached it first.
- Unknown
I run because it's my passion, and not just a sport. Every time I walk out the door, I know why I'm going where I'm going and I'm already focused on that special place where I find my peace and solitude. Running, to me, is more than just a physical exercise...it's a consistent reward for victory!
- Sasha Azevedo
Rapid motion through space elates one.
- James Joyce
There is no time to think about how much I hurt; there is only time to run.
- Ben Logsdon
My thoughts before a big race are usually pretty simple. I tell myself: 'Get out of the blocks, run your race, stay relaxed. If you run your race, you'll win....Channel your energy. Focus.
- Carl Lewis
No one can say, 'You must not run faster than this, or jump higher than that.' The human spirit is indomitable.
- Sir Roger Bannister
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.
- Sir Roger Bannister
Stadiums are for spectators. We runners have nature and that is much better.
- Juha "the Cruel" Väätäinen
Top results are reached only through pain. But eventually you like this pain. You'll find the more difficulties you have on the way, the more you will enjoy your success
- Juha "the Cruel" Väätäinen
There will come a point in the race, when you alone will need to decide. You will need to make a choice. Do you really want it? You will need to decide.
- Rolf Arands
I ran and ran every day, and I acquired a sense of determination, this sense of spirit that I would never, never, give up, no matter what else happened.
- Wilma Rudolph, US track star (from Wilma)
Why aren't you signed up for the 401K?
I'd never be able to run that far.
- Scott Adams, Dilbert (4/2/01)
Everyone in life is looking for a certain rush. Racing is where I get mine.
- John Trautmann
If you can't win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record.
- Unknown
Mind is everything: muscle=pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.
- Paavo Nurmi
I love controlling a race, chewing up an opponent. Let's get down and dirty. Let's fight it out. It's raw, animalistic, with no one to rely on but yourself. There's no better feeling than that.
- Adam Goucher, Winner 1999 US Nationals 5000 title
Hard things take time to do. Impossible things take a little longer.
- Percy Cerutty
When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.
- Paul Brown
Anything is possible, but you have to believe and you have to fight
- Lance Armstrong
Jogging through the forest is pleasant, as is relaxing by the fire with a glass of gentle Bordeaux and discussing one's travels. Racing is another matter. The frontrunner's mind is filled with an anguished fearfulness, a panic, which drives into pain.
- Kenny Moore, Oregon distance great
You have no choice about how you lose, but you do have a choice about how you come back and prepare to win again.
- Pat Riley
I think to feel peaceful in one's life there has to be balance. My running gives me that. Among all the chaos with my kids, household and business, a 30-minute jog in the woods allows me to really breathe and keep the demands of the day in perspective.
- Lynn Williams, Canadian record holder in the 1500 meters
I've always taken the philosophy that you have to dream a little in this sport, if you stay in your comfort zone, you're not going to do anything special.
- Deena Drossin, America's top women's distance runner
I prefer running without shoes. My toes didn't get cold. Besides, if I'm in front from the start, no one can step on them.
- Michelle Dekkers, the barefoot South African runner who won the 1989 NCAA Cross Country title for Indiana
Some individuals dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them.
- Beth Lukens, Florida State runner
Running is the classical road to self-consciousness, self-awareness and self-reliance. Independence is the outstanding characteristic of a runner. He learns the harsh reality of his physical and spiritual limitations when he runs. He learns that personal commitment, sacrifice and determination are his only means to betterment. Runners get promoted only through self-conquest.
- Noel Coward
Talk to me not of time and place; I owe I'm happy to the chase.
- Shakespeare
I like running because it's a challenge. If you run hard, there's the pain ... and you've got to work your way through the pain. You know, lately it seems all you hear is 'Don't overdo it' and 'Don't push yourself.' Well, I think that's a lot of bull. If you push the human body, it will respond.
- Bob Clarke, Philadelphia Flyers general manager, NHL Hall of Famer
The thinking must be done first, before the training begins.
- Peter Coe
The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.
- Juma Ikangaa, Tanzania
Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not.
- Dr. George Sheehan
Relish the bad training runs. Without them it's difficult to recognize, much less appreciate, the good ones.
- Pat Teske
In my dictionary, the word 'overtrain' falls just a page away from the word 'overkill', defined as 'to obliterate with more nuclear force than required.' Consider the connection: If your target is top running performance, then to overtrain means to apply more force than is required to hit that target. In fact, overtraining may literally obliterate your target, or at least leave you without the will to pursue it.
- Jack Daniels, coach of Div. III women's cross-country powerhouse Cortland State
Any idiot can train himself into the ground; the trick is working in training to get gradually stronger.
- Keith Brantly
Fear is the strongest driving force in competition. Not fear of one's opponent, but of the skill and high standard he represents; fear, too, of not acquitting oneself well. In the achievement of higher performances, of beating formidable rivals, the athlete defeats fear and conquers himself.
- Franz Stampfl, "Stampfl On Running."
Make your last thought before the start of a marathon: 'If I'm not worried that I'm running a little too slow in the first half, then I'm probably running too fast.'
- Jim Fortner
Running hills breaks up your rhythm and forces your muscles to adapt to different stresses. The result? You become a stronger runner.
- Eamonn Coughlin
Men, today we die a little.
- Emil Zatopek, on the starting line for the Olympic Marathon
To describe the agony of a marathon to someone who has never run it is like trying to explain color to someone who was born blind.
- Jerome Drayton
Why couldn't Pheidippides have died here?
- Frank Shorter's comment to Kenny Moore at the 16-mile mark in one of Shorter's first marathons
For optimum progress and peak performance, practice the three P's of running: Patience, Perseverence and a Plan.
- Jim Fortner
Mind is everything: muscle---pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.
- Paavo Nurmi
n my 1976 Training Diary there is a photo of Jack Nicholson from 'One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest.' It's a facial shot of him trying to pull out the drinking trough and use it to smash one of the barred windows to escape. One of the other patients said: 'Don't be stupid, you can't do that.' Jack replied, 'Yes I can, anything is possible.' He strained his guts out working at it for a few minutes with the veins sticking out of his neck. Of course he couldn't move the bloody thing. They all said: 'We told you that you couldn't do it.' Nicholson looked at them and said: 'At least I tried, you bastards.' To me that summarizes what I think about life.
- Chris Wardlaw, 2:11 Aurtralian marathoner
Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body.
- Lynn Jennings
To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain ... not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it.
- Dr. George Sheehan
Have a dream, make a plan, go for it. You'll get there, I promise.
- Zoe Koplowitz, Achilles Track Club member with multiple sclerosis, who required 24 hours on crutches but finished the 1993 New York City Marathon
There is no finish line.
- Nike advertising slogan
I love the marathon ... It’s a challenge, and if you don’t like challenges, something is wrong with your life.
- Abdi Abdirahman
The real purpose of running isn't to win a race; it's to test the limits of the human heart.
- Bill Bowerman in "Without Limits"
Running, one might say, is basically an absurd pastime upon which to be exhausting ourselves. But if you can find meaning in the type of running you need to do ... chances are you'll be able to find meaning in that other absurd pastime: LIFE
- Bill Bowerman in "Without Limits"
A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they're capable of understanding
- Steve Prefontaine
Every passion has it’s destiny.
- Billy Mills, first and only American to win a 10,000m Olympic medal
Remember, your dream is your only scheme, so keep on pushing . . .
- Curtis Mayfield
Walk to your goal firmly and with bold steps.
- Kahlil Gibran, philosopher and poet
I always loved running - it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.
- Jesse Owens
One chance is all you need.
- Jesse Owens
We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.
- Jesse Owens
Sustained motivation is essential to achieving your potential.
- Grete Waitz
Don't let yourself be concerned by what other runners are doing. By trial and error, find out what works for you.
- Gayle Barron, marathoner
Keep varying the program. Your body will tell you what to do.
- Joan Benoit
Records don't mean much. Racing is about people and not clocks.
- Steve Ovett, middle distance runner
Learn to listen to your body. It will tell you when you've done enough work.
- Gayle Barron, marathoner
Every time I bomb out, I have to come back. I have a feeling after a bad race that my next one will be good.
- Bill Rodgers, four time Boston & New York City Marathon Champion
People today tend to overdo. This applies especially, I think, to distance runners and the training they do. What you should do is develop a training program that suits your physical makeup, your stamina, and your ability as a runner.
- Gayle Barron, marathoner
Winning is nice, but you savor that victory for an evening and it's gone. Competing well is just not to be equated with winning.
- Bill Bowerman
The strength that wins is calm and has an exhaustless source in its passive depth.
- Rabindranath Tagore, philosopher
The first thing I had to do was learn that I could do it.
- a runner
People get a relief from tension by running. One thing that almost always happens is that your sense of self-worth improves. You accept yourself a little better.
- Ted Corbitt, former U.S. Olympic marathoner
Running is real and relatively simple - but it ain't easy.
- Mark Will-Weber
Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don't so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head.
- Joe Henderson
You don’t run against a bloody stop watch, do you hear? A runner runs against himself, against the best that’s in him. Not against a dead thing of wheels and pulleys. That’s the way to be great, running against yourself. Against all the rotten mess in the world. Against God, if you’re good enough.
- Bill Persons
Those who say that I will lose and am finished will have to run over my body to beat me.
- Said Aouita
A runners creed: I will win; if I cannot win, I shall be second; if I cannot be second, I shall be third; if I cannot place at all, I shall still do my best.
- Ken Doherty, famous running coach and trainer
You have to wonder at times what you're doing out there. Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
- Steve Prefontaine
There is no such thing as bad weather, just soft people.
- Bill Bowerman
Strong lives are motivated by dynamic purposes.
- Kenneth Hildebrand
To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality.
- Anita Roddick
This is where you will win the battle — in the playhouse of your mind.
- Maxwell Maltz
The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare.
- Juma Ikangaa
Anything worth while will not come easy.
- Unknown
I tell our runners to divide the race into thirds. Run the first part with your head, the middle part with your personality, and the last part with your heart.
- Mike Fanelli
he reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
- George Bernard Shaw
Human beings are made up of flesh and blood, and a miracle fiber called courage.
- George Patton
If I am still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a board and knock me down, because that means I didn’t run hard enough.
- Steve Jones
Having a true faith is the most difficult thing in the world. Many will try to take it from you.
- Steve Prefontaine
The marathon’s about being in contention over the last 10K. That’s when it’s about what you have in your core. You have run all the strength, all the superficial fitness out of yourself, and it really comes down to what’s left inside you. To be able to draw deep and pull something out of yourself is one of the most tremendous things about the marathon.
- Rob de Castella
Mind is everything; muscle - pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.
- Paavo Nurmi
Top results are reached only through pain. But eventually you like this pain. You’ll find the more difficulties you have on the way, the more you will enjoy your success.
- Juha Vaatainen
Every job is a self portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.
- Anonymous
Only a poor runner blames his shoes.
- Anonymous
The world is full of discourages. We have a duty to encourage one another. Many a time a word of praise or thanks of appreciation or cheer has kept a person on his feet.
- William Barclay
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
- Will Rogers
No one can really pull you up very high–you lose your grip on the rope. But on your own two feet you can climb mountains.
- Louis Brandeis
You will be a winner when you realize failure is only an attitude of mind.
- Unknown
Those who do something and fail are infinitetly better then those who try to do nothing and succeed.
- Lloyd Jones
The only way to discover the limit of the possible is to go beyond into the impossible.
- Arthur C. Clark
Your biggest task is not to get ahead of others, but to surpass yourself.
- Anonymous
Energy multiplies when you set a desired goal and resolve to work towards that goal.
- David Schwartz
What matters is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it’s the size of the fight in the dog.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
There are clubs you can’t belong to, neighborhoods you can’t live in, schools you can’t get into, but the roads are always open.
- NIKE
There are as many reasons for running as there are days in the year, years in my life. But mostly I run because I am an animal and a child, an artist and a saint. So, too, are you. Find your own play, your own self-renewing compulsion, and you will become the person you are meant to be.
- Dr. George Sheehan
Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it.
- Oprah Winfrey
You must listen to your body. Run through annoyance but not through pain.
- Dr. George Sheehan
The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life.
- Dr. George Sheehan
Life is a positive-sum game. Everyone from the gold medallist to the last finisher can rejoice in a personal victory.
- Dr. George Sheehan
I prefer to remain in blissful ignorance of the opposition. That way I’m not frightened by anyone’s reputation.
- Ian Thompson
The body does not want you to do this. As you run, it tells you to stop but the mind must be strong. You always go too far for your body. You must handle the pain with strategy … It is not age; it is not diet. It is the will to succeed.
- Jacqueline Gareau, 1980 Boston Marathon champ
Sport is not about being wrapped up in cotton wool. Sport is about adapting to the unexpected and being able to modify plans at the last minute. Sport, like all life, is about taking risks.
- Sir Roger Bannister
A champion is a man who has trained his body and his mind, who has learned to conquer pain for his own purposes. A great athlete is at peace with himself and at peace with the world; he has fulfilled himself. He envies nobody. Wars are caused by people who have not fulfilled themselves.
- Sam Dee The Olympian
The gun goes off and everything changes … the World changes … and nothing else really matters.
- Patti Sue Plummer
If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours.
- Henry David Thoreau
Long after the finish time is forgotten, the race is still remembered.
- Unknown
To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift.
- Steve Prefontaine
It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.
- Karl Friedrich Gauss
Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny spark of possibility within you into the flame of achievement.
- Unknown
The best kind of pride is that which compels a person to do his very best work - even when no one is watching.
- Unknown
It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.
- Confucius
Every man dies, but not every man truly lives.
- William Wallace
It is difficult to train for a marathon; but it is even more difficult to not be able to train for a marathon.
- Aaron Douglas Trimble
Blessings are placed within our reach, but they are not placed within our hands.
- Unknown
Let your personality type define what you get involved in; it’ll help you find an activity that you can be really passionate about.
- Brendan Brazier, Ironman Triathlon Champion and premier vegan athlete
Ultimately, you just need to enjoy it and have fun with it. The best advice I got – that really was beneficial to me – was to take it slow. Walk through the water stops – make sure you take something to drink and stay hydrated. I think the mental part of the marathon – just like in gymnastics – is the most important and sometimes challenging part.
- Shannon Miller, seven-time Olympic medal winning gymnast
Look forward to your runs as something you are doing for yourself!
- Kim Alexis, supermodel
Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.
- John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach
You must have faith to succeed.
- Anonymous
Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
- Lou Holtz, football coach
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.
- Lance Armstrong
Sports serve society by providing vivid examples of excellence.
- George F. Will
I dont run to see how fast I am. I run to see how far I can go.
- loyal TFS reader
It is the mind that rules the body.
- Sojourner Truth
Some people create with words, or with music, or with a brush and paints. I like to make something beautiful when I run. I like to make people stop and say, "I've never seen anyone run like that before." It's more then just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better then anyone else. It's being creative.
- Steve Prefontaine
Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.
- Steve Prefontaine
A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
- Steve Prefontaine
My feeling is that any day I am too busy to run is a day that I am too busy.
- John Bryant
The greatest pleasure in life, is doing the things people say we cannot do.
- Walter Bagehot
Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started.
- Steve Prefontaine
Man imposes his own limitations, don't set any.
- Anthony Bailey
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows that it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle when the sun comes up you'd better be running.
- Anon
Life’s battles don't always go to the strongest or fastest man, But sooner or later the man who wins is the fellow who thinks he can.
- Steve Prefontaine
Champions do not become champions when they win the event, but in the hours, weeks, months and years they spend preparing for it. The victorious performance itself is merely the demonstration of their championship character.
- T. Alan Armstrong
Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste death but once.
- Julius Caesar
The nine inches right here; set it straight and you can beat anybody in the world.
- Sebastian Coe (said while pointing to his head)
Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.
- Confucius
Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.
- William Faulkner
Over the years, I've given myself a thousand reasons to keep running, but it always comes back to where it started. It comes down to self-satisfaction and a sense of achievement.
- Steve Prefontaine
What kind of crazy nut would spend two or three hours a day just running?
- Steve Prefontaine (How he reacted in Junior High when he saw the High School Cross country team running)
A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more. Nobody is going to win a 5,000 meter race after running an easy 2 miles. Not with me. If I loose forcing the pace all the way, well, at least I can live with myself.
- Steve Prefontaine
You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.
- Gatorade
If you run 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want -- Why?
Because:
(a) you'll burn all the calories you consume,
(b) you deserve it, and
(c) you'll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway.
- Don Kardong
Other people may not have high expectations of me, but I have high expectations for myself.
- Shannon Miller, seven-time Olympic medal winning gymnast
When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
- Theodore Roosevelt
The thing about Pre is that he ran as hard as he could every race, and if you were going to beat him, you were going to have to run harder than he did.
- Bob Kennedy
When you are a up-and-coming runner in the U.S., and making some breakthroughs in distances, Pre is still the man that you are compared to. It's always based on Pre.
- Bob Kennedy
It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.
- Seneca
Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can.
- Lowell Thomas
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
- Booker T. Washington
Once you're beat mentally, you might as well not even go to the starting line.
- Todd Williams
Cross Country: No half times, no time outs, no substitutions. It must be the only true sport.
- Anonymous
Running is a mental sport...and we're all insane!
- Anonymous
The wind howls, because it knows it has to chase me. Just do it.
- NIKE
Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.
- Les Brown
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
old medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.
- Dan Gable
To win without risk is to triumph without glory.
- Pierre Cornielle
Only think of two things - the report of the pistol and the tape. When you hear one, run like hell until you break the other.
- Sam Mussabini
Cross Country: Finally a practical use for golf courses.
- Unknown
Pain is only temporary,
Pride is forever,
Pain passes with time and Time passes,
therefore Pain is just a strain on the Brain without Refrain,
and that's why Cross Country runners are Insane.
- a t-shirt
Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant.
- Dr. George Sheehan
There is no room for frills when you're fighting the lone battle against yourself. It's something only a runner would understand.
- Saucony
Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race him, he will win.
- Tom Fleming's Boston Marathon sign
Weak runners wait for opportunities, strong ones make them.
- Unknown
A runner Creed: I will win; if I cannot win, I shall be second; if I cannot be second, I shall be third; if I cannot place at all , I shall still do my best.
- Ken Doherty
The only one that limits you is yourself .
- Anonymous
Run hard when it's hard to run.
- Paavvo
How you respond to the challenge in the second half of the race will determine what you become after the race, whether you are a winner or a loser.
- Anonymous
Live to run. Run to win. Live to win.
- Unknown
People begin running for any number of motives, but we stick to it for one basic reason-to find out who we really are.
- Dr. George Sheehan
There are no standards and no possible victories except the joy you are living while dancing your run....you are not running for some future reward-the real reward is now!
- Fred Rohe, author of The Zen of Running
I have no control over how fast my opposition can run. It's not like I can tackle them. All I can do is work harder. Smarter. Train when my opposition doesn't. In blood-chilling temperatures. Rain. Sleet. Wind.
- Unknown
If you train hard, you'll not only be hard, you'll be hard to beat.
- Herschel Walker
The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital."
- Joe Paterno; legendary Penn State football coach
Set you goals high, and don't stop till you get there.
- Bo Jackson
Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.
- Tom Landry
Think big, believe big, act big, and the results will be big.
- Anon
The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather in a lack of will.
- Vince Lombardi
If you can't accept losing, you can't win.
- Vince Lombardi
The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.
- Vince Lombardi
All right Mister, let me tell you what winning means you're willing to go longer, work harder, give more than anyone else.
- Vince Lombardi
The Principle is competing against yourself. It's about self-improvement, about being better than you were the day before.
- Steve Young, hall of fame NFL quaterback
The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur.
- Vince Lombardi
I hope I have convinced you- the only thing that separates successful people from the ones who aren't is the willingness to work very, very hard.
- Helen Gurley Brown
Ask your self. 'Can I give more?' The answer is usually: 'Yes.'
- Paul Tergat
Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof.
- Kahlil Gibran, philosopher and poet
Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all.
- Kahlil Gibran, philosopher and poet
Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.
- André Gide, Nobel Prize winning writer
To be successful, the first thing you have to do is fall in love with your work.
- Sister Mary Lauretta
March on. Do not tarry. To go forward is to move toward perfection. March on, and fear not the thorns, or the sharp stones on life's path.
- Kahlil Gibran, philosopher and poet
Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit.
- Napolean Hill
Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.
- Booker T. Washington
I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.
- Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
Mere longevity is a good thing for those who watch Life from the side lines. For those who play the game[or run the race], an hour may be a year; a single day's work an achievement for eternity.
- Gabriel Heatter
My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure.
- Abraham Lincoln
My mother taught me very early to believe I could achieve any accomplishment I wanted to. The first was to walk without braces.
- Wilma Rudolf
Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.
- Aristotle
Our truest life is when we are in our dreams awake.
- Henry David Thoreau
Little by little does the trick.
- Aesop
Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.
- Dale Carnegie
Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they've got a second. Give your dreams all you've got and you'll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you.
- William James
Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.
- Jim Ryan
No matter what business you're in, you can't run in place or someone will pass you by. It doesn't matter how many games you've won.
- Jim Valvano
Just go out there and do what you've got to do.
- Martina Navratilova, tennis legend and a premier vegetarian athlete
A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.
- Goethe
Runs end. Running doesn't.
- Nike
The talent to be a great runner is a gift from God: utilizing that talent is a gift to you from yourself!
- Anon
What counts in a battle is what you do once the pain sets in.
- John Short
Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image.
- Goethe
One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.
- Aristotle
Character, in great and little things, means carrying through what you feel able to do.
- Goethe
Believe that man will not merely endure; he will prevail.
- William Faulkner
Fresh activity is the only means of overcoming adversity.
- Goethe
Champions keep playing until they get it right.
- Billy Jean King
Failure is the path of least persistence.
- Unknown
How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal, and you have to be willing to work for it.
- Jim Valvano
He only earns his freedom and his life, who takes them every day by storm.
- Goethe
Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
- Albert Camus
My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.
- Jim Valvano
Don't give up, don't ever give up.
- Jim Valvano
In the realm of ideas everything depends on enthusiasm... in the real world all rests on perseverance.
- Goethe
Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.
- Goethe
Magic is believing in yourself, if you can do that, you can make anything happen.
- Goethe
Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.
- Goethe
It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.
- John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach
The deed is everything, the glory naught.
- Goethe
The right man is the one who seizes the moment.
- Goethe
It is time for us to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever, the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it.
- Vince Lombardi
Carpe Diem! Seize the day, lads! Make your lives extraordinary!
- Dead Poets Society
What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.
- Goethe
I think a lot of times people may become content with one championship or a little bit of success, but we don't really reflect on what we've done in the past. We focus on the present.
- Derek Jeter
Then where does the power come from, to see the race to its end? From within.
- "Chariots of Fire"
No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
- William Penn
The pain that you get in your legs is counteracted by the excitement of what you hope you're managing to achieve.
- Sir Roger Bannister
"If I can't win, I won't run!"
"If you don't run, you can't win."
- "Chariots of Fire"
"Do you love it? [running]
"I'm more of an addict. It's a compulsion with me, a weapon I can use."
- "Chariots of Fire"
Like the martyr, I’m embracing pain.
- "Saint Ralph"
Most marathoners would say that about mile 20 they pray for any help they can get.
- "Saint Ralph"
Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.
- Kahlil Gibran, philosopher and poet
I'd like to work it out so that at the end, it's a pure guts race. If it is, I'm the only one who can win it.
- Steve Prefontaine in "Without Limits"
I can endure more pain than anyone you've ever met. That's why I can beat anyone I've ever met.
- Steve Prefontaine in "Without Limits"
If you doubt you can accomplish something, then you can't accomplish it. You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through.
- Rosalyn Carter
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.
- Goethe
I've been ready for this my whole life!
- "Rudy"
You're 5 foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and you have barely a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football players in the land for 2 years. And you're gonna walk outta here with a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself. Am I making myself clear?
- "Rudy"
Great moments... are born from great opportunity.
- "Miracle"
This is your time! Now go out there and take it!
- "Miracle"
What we do in life echoes in eternity.
- "Gladiator"
Go the Distance
- "Field of Dreams"
Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen.
- Peter Marshall
Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.
- Robert F. Kennedy
Be that man.
- "The Mighty Ducks: D3"
Sports do not build character. They reveal it.
- Matthew Campbell
There is the truth about the marathon and very few of you have written the truth. Even if I explain to you, you'll never understand it, you're outside of it.
- Douglas Wakiihuri speaking to journalists
You can actually suffer a little bit more going slowly than when you're going really fast. A faster marathon might even be easier than a slow one, in terms of what it takes out of you mentally.
- Frank Shorter
At the two-thirds mark, I think of those who are still with me. Who might make a break? Should I? Then I give it all I've got.
- Ibrahim Hussein, on marathon tactics
I'm never going to run this again.
- Grete Waitz after winning her first of nine New York City marathons
I was unable to walk for a whole week after that, so much did the race take out of me. But it was the most pleasant exhaustion I have ever known.
- Emil Zatopek's description of the Olympic Marathon win in Helsinki
Get going. Get up and walk if you have to, but finish the damned race.
- Ron Hill to Jerome Drayton during the 1970 Boston Marathon
The New York Marathon: a fantastic event.
- Pope John Paul II, 1982
The starting line of the New York City marathon is kind of a giant time bomb behind you about to go off. It is the most spectacular start in sport.
- Bill Rodgers
When I came to New York in 1978, I was a full-time school teacher and track runner, and determined to retire from competitive running. But winning the New York City Marathon kept me running for another decade.
- Grete Waitz
I just run as hard as I can for 20 miles, and then race.
- Steve Jones (when asked about his race plan, after he had won the "Chicago Marathon" in the then world's best time)
Anyone can run 20 miles. It's the next six that count.
- Barry Magee, marathon bronze in Rome, 1960
A marathon is like life with its ups and downs, but once you've done it you feel that you can do anything.
- unknown
I was pushed by myself because I have my own rule, and that is that every day I run faster, and try harder.
- Wilson Kipketer
World records are only borrowed.
- Sebastian Coe
Running is like mouthwash; if you can feel the burn, it's working.
- Brian Tackett
Life is short... running makes it seem longer.
- Baron Hansen
When people ask me why I run, I tell them, there's not really a reason, it's just the adrenalin when you start, and the feeling when you cross that finish line, and know that you are a winner no matter what place you got.
- Courtney Parsons
People don't know why we run, but it's the hard work you put into practice, and the reward you get from the race.
- Courtney Parsons
I run because it's my passion, and not just a sport. Every time I walk out the door, I know why I'm going where I'm going and I'm already focused on that special place where I find my peace and solitude. Running, to me, is more than just a physical exercise... it's a consistent reward for victory!
- Sasha Azevedo
I believe in the runner's high, and I believe that those who are passionate about running are the ones who experience it to the fullest degree possible. To me, the runner's high is a sensational reaction to a great run! It's an exhilarating feeling of satisfaction and achievement. It's like being on top of the world, and truthfully... there's nothing else quite like it!
- Sasha Azevedo
People ask why I run. I say, "If you have to ask, you will never understand". It is something only those select few know. Those who put themselves through pain, but know, deep down, how good it really feels.
- Erin Leonard
You must realize one thing. In every little village in the world there are great potential champions who only need motivation, development and good exercise evaluation.
- Arthur Lydiard
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
- Muhammad Ali
It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.
- Muhammad Ali
Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them: A desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little faster, they have to have the skill and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
- Muhammad Ali
It's better to burn out than to fade away.
- Tom Petty
I feel the earth and the wind and the trees. I feel its spirit. It puts me in the moment. I feel the rhythm of the race. It's like music. When the rhythm gets dissonant and chaotic, it is either a jazzy driving force behind me or demons inside me.
- Gabriel Harmony Jennings, talking about winning the 1,500 meter
Inevitably, there's some official bellowing: "Come on! Run through the chute! Keep it movin'...Keep it movin'!" But you're bent over, gasping, admiring with salt-stung eyes the good, honest mud of battle, the trickle of blood from a spike wound, splattered on your still-quivering legs and too-old (but still lucky) racing shoes. What could be more beautiful?
- Description of the finish of a Cross Country Race from The Quotable Runner
Why aren't you signed up for the 401K?
I'd never be able to run that far.
- Scott Adams, Dilbert (4/2/01)
It's the road signs: "Beware of lions"
- Kip Lagat, Kenyan distance runner, during the Sydney Olympics, explaining why his country produces so many great runners
Coming off the last turn, my thoughts changed from: "One more try, one more try, one more try", to: "I can win! I can win! I can win!"
- Billy Mills, first and only American to win a 10,000m Olympic medal
If you can't win, make the fellow ahead of you break the record.
- Unknown
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.
- Lewis Carroll, from "Alice in Wonderland"
The only tatics I admire are do-or-die.
- Herb Elliott
When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.
- Paul Brown
Every time I crossed that finish line I was ready for a new challenge.
- A.J.
One of the reasons I love marathon running is because I believe that it is an activity that is analogous to life. In a marathon there can be tough inclines and rough terrain and times when you don't think you'll be able to go any further. However, with some determination and a little help from the aid stations along the way, you can cross that finish line and realize your goal.
The same can be said for life, which has both its extraordinary peaks and intense valleys. Regardless of one's situations, I believe that with some inner strength, courage and encouragement from those whom you love, I believe people can achieve anything.
- A.J.
Carpe diem! (Seize the day!)
- Horace, Roman lyric poet
It is not about how hard you hit, but it is more about your getting up after being hit so hard.
- Rocky Balboa
The pain can be pretty bad. But when I'm on pace, the excitement gets me through each lap. Adrenaline can get you beyond the pain.
- Alan Webb, the young track phenom who in 2001 broke Jim Ryun's 36-year old national high school record in the mile (3:53:43)
In running it doesn’t matter if you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or in last. You can say, ‘I finished’. There is a lot of satisfaction in that.
- Fred Lebow
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